You Have The Power To Survive Your Week From Hell

Lucy wrapping chocolates on the conveyor belt moments. In the practice of law, we all have them. I understand that those in Biglaw Land believe them to be their perpetual condition. I’m going to contend that in large part that condition is self-created and is cognitive dissonance for outlandish compensation, bereft social lives, and bad breath[1]. In the “real world” (read as: the Small Firm World[2]) these moments shouldn’t happen that frequently.

But as I said, they do and will happen. Adjust your calendar however you want, there will come that week when you have an appellate brief, a three day breach of contract trial, a client that needs you to have filed a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order yesterday, a real estate case requiring immediate attention for a protection order hearing because the butt-knuckle neighbor decided to take his shotgun out and patrol the boundary, and three divorce clients who simultaneously need you to explain why the fact that their soon-to-be ex-spouse friended her high school ex-boyfriend on Facebook doesn’t mean their child support obligation is decreased, or that quitting their job is probably not a good idea, because the court will probably impute to them their previous income anyway and also… if they do then they also won’t have a job, or that I am certain that the strategy utilized in an episode of Ally McBeal is certain not to be of great utility in their upcoming trial.

In these instances, I resort to an acronym[3]: POWER.

Prepare. Sure I know you’re probably saying “thanks Atticus, you trite self-satisfied windbag. We were sitting here wholly unaware that in what precedes a difficult week, we should be prepared. Thanks, why don’t you go share your thoughts somewhere they will have value like the bottom of a bottomless well, which we’d also like to throw yourself down.” To which I say… man, I have pretty mean readers. Seriously though, there’s nothing worse than when these weeks sneak up on you. We should all aim to keep our eyes on our calendar so that like tornado trackers we can see the storm coming before it has fully developed.

Out of Office Messages. They aren’t just for vacation anymore! When you have 20 different things that do need your pressing attention, it’s pretty easy to keep adding more things that don’t. At some point, it’s time to call it and put the OOM on. These things can wait. Your plate is full. Finish what’s on it. Which brings us to…

Wrap-up weekend. Plan it now. You’re spending next weekend in the office. Those emails are piling up, so too will the mundanity of legal practice that is accumulating while you are focusing in on that which is immediately pressing. It’s in the middle of the acronym because (well, because, “power” was the acronym that made sense and “w” is in the middle of power) knowing that the wrap-up weekend is coming works as a psychological safety net to ease your mind regarding those things that are slipping through unfinished during the week. Also, spending the weekend taking care of the little stuff will make crawling out of the abyss next week a hell of a lot easier.

Early Mornings. I need to dedicate myself on these weeks to getting in the office early, well before any staff gets there, or any other attorney whom I cannot trust to leave me the damn hell alone gets there. For me, this ensures that none of the stuff I am intentionally ignoring accidentally ends up in front of me. Some people can do it at home, more power to them. I like the opportunity to use the space of work to focus me.

Reward. Exercise? Beer? Dessert? Video Games? TV? You do you. But I find it essential that each day such weeks end with something I want. If the day ends with something I want, it recharges me for the next. Sure, I am a 3 year old or a Pavlovian Dog, but it works for me. There’s also something to be said for letting your brain relax for an hour or so, prior to sleep.

There, cue the C and C Music Factory, because I GOT THE POWER!!! Now you do too.

[1] I don’t know. I need a third thing.

[2] Because this column is not about them, it’s about us.

[3] In all honesty, I just now came up with this acronym for this column, but hey I’m using it from now on.

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Atticus T. Lynch, Esq. is an attorney in Any Town, Any State, U.S.A. He did not attend a top ten law school. He’s a litigator who’d like to focus on Employment and Municipal Litigation, but the vicissitudes of business cause him to “focus” on anything that comes in the door. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter